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Post by Electric Eel on May 30, 2020 19:51:17 GMT 10
 Eric Grothe snr Born - 1960 Parramatta 1979 - 1989 Games - 152 Wikipedia |
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Post by Electric Eel on May 30, 2020 19:51:40 GMT 10
Eric "Guru" Grothe (born 6 January 1960) is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 1980s. A New South Wales and Australian representative winger, he played club football for the Parramatta Eels with whom he won four NSWRL premierships. Since retiring, Grothe has been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.
Grothe's size, speed and trademark ability to break a tackle through sheer strength enabled him to perfectly book-end Parramatta's star studded backline of the early 1980s outside Brett Kenny, Mick Cronin, Peter Sterling and Steve Ella. Along with lock forward, Ray Price these stars formed the nucleus of a side which dominated the New South Wales Rugby League premiership between 1981 and 1986 winning four titles, once runners-up and once third.
Known as "the Guru" due to his long locks and beard in his playing years, he all up played 150 first grade career games for Parramatta, scoring 78 tries. His career was undoubtedly restricted by recurring knee injuries.
Grothe represented for Australia in eight Tests between 1982 and 1984 and made the 1982 Kangaroo Tour. He had nine State of Origin appearances for New South Wales between 1981 and 1986.
1978 Rookie
Graduated from Liverpool Boys High School, alongside fellow NRL player Geoff Gerard, Grothe played his junior football for Mt.Pritchard (Mounties). Also in 1978 Grothe was Parramatta's Rookie of the Year at age 18, scoring 16 tries in 17 matches in the Eels Under-23 Premiership team.
1979 1st Grade
He debuted in first grade 1979 but, after a promising start, including three tries in one game against South Sydney, a succession of injuries meant that he was not able to show his full ability until the 1981 season.
1981 Premiership & Origin
Grothe showed his class in Parramatta's first premiership title year in 1981 and launched his representative career in the sole New South Wales v Queensland bout played that year under the Origin criteria. Grothe scored two tries in that match including a 90 metre effort, scooping up a wayward pass by Greg Conescu and sprinting down the touchline.
Grothe figures in a moment which has since made its way into Origin folklore. Queenslander Colin Scott fielded a kick near halfway and split the defence in a 45 metre charge that ended just short of the line thanks to a despairing tackle by Grothe. Grothe clung to Scott's ankles as he waited for his team mates to get back but in a now famous image, Chris Close backhanded Grothe out of the way, picked up the ball from dummy-half and placed it over the line for a try.
1982 Kangaroo
The Guru was member of Parramatta's victorious premiership side in 1982 but didn't play in any of the 1982 State of Origin series.
He was selected for Australia on the 1982 Kangaroo Tour, the squad whose record earned them the title of the Invincibles. He made his Test debut in the first Test at Hull where he scored a try. Grothe played in two Tests each against Great Britain and France and ten minor tour matches scoring 21 tries in 14 matches including five tries in the match against Roanne, won by Australia 65-0.
1983 3rd Premiership
In the 1983 Final against Canterbury, Grothe scored a phenomenal first half solo try beating man after man - six in all, to get to the tryline.
He was prominent in the Eels side that won their third successive premiership, figuring in the 18-6 Grand Final victory over the Manly Sea Eagles when in the 13th minute he steamrolled his way over burly Manly fullback Graham Eadie to score.
Grothe played in both Tests of the 1983 series against New Zealand scoring tries in each game.
1984 Ashes
In a club match that year against Western Suburbs he equalled a then club record he had set in 1982 of four tries in a game.
He played in the second and third Tests of that year's domestic Ashes series against Great Britain. The third test victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground would prove to be his last Test appearance. His finished his Test career with the phenomenal record of scoring a try in every Test he played.
1985 UK stint
In 1985 Grothe had a season with English club Leeds Rhinos (then known simply as Leeds) where he scored 14 tries in 16 games including a hat-trick on debut against Leigh Centurions (then known just as Leigh) on New Year's Day - then only the third player to score three tries on debut for the club. In the Australian season he suffered from knee problems that prevented him touring New Zealand but he was superb in Parramatta's end-of-season surge until they lost 0-26 to Canterbury in the preliminary final.
His chronic knee-ligament problems would plague the rest of his career.
1986 4th premiership
In 1986 Grothe played in Parramatta's tryless grand final win made his final State of Origin appearance in game III. However injury restricted him to playing less than half the season and he did not tour with the Kangaroos.
1987-1990
After being selected for City Origin in 1987 the knee injury recurred and he did not play at all in the second half of the season. When he returned in 1988 it was clear he had lost considerable pace even before injury also ended that season. 1989 saw Grothe initially used from the reserves bench and then briefly playing in the unfamiliar position of centre. He was selected again that year for City Firsts but injured in a match at Brookvale Oval when he had come on as replacement for the injured Peter Sterling.
After efforts at treating his knee failed, Grothe retired on 13 April 1990.
When a best Australian team of the limited tackle era was named in 1995, Grothe shared with prop Arthur Beetson the distinction of being a unanimous choice of every judge.
In 2005 he was named one of the 25 greatest ever NSW players.
He stands at equal third with Ray Price on the Parramatta all time try tally list with 78 scored in just 152 games.
In February 2008, Grothe was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.
Wikipedia
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Post by Electric Eel on May 30, 2020 19:52:02 GMT 10
A Centenary of Rugby League
By Ian Heads and David Middleton
When Eric Grothe arrived in the north of England with the Kangaroos of 1982 he caught just about everyone by suprise. British fans had never encountered a winger quite like the bearded wonder from Parramatta.
They were well acquainted with the blockbusting style of Billy Boston, who lit up the terraces at Wigan in the 1950s and 1960s, but Grothe was a different proposition altogether. Where Boston's game had its subtleties, a sidestep or a neat body swerve being just as likely to beat a man as a straight-forward burst, Grothe's approach was based 100 per cent on power.
He would hunch his body at 45 degrees to impart a hip-bump on an unsuspecting defender and then, once in the clear, would quicken his pace to burn off any would-be tacklers. It is an image seared into the memory of British fans and, no doubt, the many players who experienced first hand the strength and speed of the man known affectionately as 'Guru'.
Grothe tormented the British and the French on that memorable tour, scoring six tries in four Test matches and a total of 21 in 14 appearances on tour. He hounded the British again in Australia in 1984, scoring in the second and third Tests after he was a shock omission from the first Test team in Sydney. Injuries limited his Test career, but in each game he played he gave a strong indication of what might have been had he stayed injury-free. He scored in every Test he played in, finishing with the imposing tally of 10 tries from his eight Tests.
Grothe's career started with Parramatta junior club Mt Pritchard, where future international Steve Ella was a team-mate. The pair debuted in first grade within a week of each other in 1980, the same season Brett Kenny hit first grade and Peter Sterling developed into the Eels' regular top-grade halfback. The next year, the four shared in the celebrations of Parramatta's maiden premiership win and they drank victory champagne again in 1982, 1983 and 1986.
It was in the 1983 finals series that Grothe scored what many considered the finest try of his career, an astonishing effort where he beat almost half the Canterbury side. But Grothe performed similar heroics at State of Origin level, either scoring length of the field tries or running down opponents with glorious last-ditch tackles. Sadly injuries to both knees eventually caught up with the gentle giant and he was forced to retire at the relatively early age of 29.
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Post by Electric Eel on May 30, 2020 19:52:23 GMT 10
"He Just Kept Coming"
By Peter Peters
September 8, 1983
They were the words of Canterbury fullback Chris Mortimer-the last of five Bulldogs the rampaging Eric Grothe brushed aside on the way to his great bulldozing try at the SCG last Sunday.
The try, in the 25th minute of the preliminary semi-final between Parramatta and Canterbury, was one of the best individual tries scored in a big match at the SCG.
Mortimer said he couldn't believe his eyes as Grothe kept coming towards him.
"I could see a good line of cover between him and me and thought there was no way he could get clear," he said.
When he did I was poorly positioned and reached out to stop him and was left flat on the ground.
"He is incredibly strong but his speed is hard to judge as well and he has a powerful fend to back everything else up," Mortimer said.
Mortimer said it was useless to try to stop Grothe side-on, without a lot of momentum.
"If there is a next time-and I hope there isn't-I'll just have to try to time my tackle a lot better.
"Being in the right position and having the right timing is an essential part of the tackle on any big man.
"It becomes doubly important when Grothe breaks clear," he said.
One of the strongest tacklers in the Canterbury side, Mortimer said his team-mates couldn't believe the Grothe four-pointer. "We just looked at each other behind the goal-line and wondered why us at the time," Mortimer said.
Steve Mortimer was clinging to Grothe's legs as he crossed the goal-line.
The little halfback has had more success than most cutting Grothe down in the last season or two.
"Go in low and hard from side-on is the best way but he is without doubt the hardest player to tackle in the game when he is in full flight," Steve Mortimer said.
"He did to us what he did with great regularity to the Poms on the last Kangaroo tour," he said.
The five players Grothe beat before going in for the try were props John Coveney and Geoff Robinson, five-eighth Garry Hughes, Steve Folkes and Chris Mortimer.
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1981 1982 1983 1986 